On December 12th, 1914 in Buckinghamshire, England, Richard Patrick Russ was born to Charles and Jessie Russ, and was the eighth of nine children. In August of 1945, Richard Patrick took the name Patrick O’Brian by which he is now known.

Although the writer of numerous novels and short stories, as well as biographies, he is best known for a series of nautical books featuring British Captain Jack Aubrey and his physician/intelligence agent friend, Stephen Maturin. The Academy Award winning 2003 movie Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany was based in part on several of the novels in the ‘Aubreyiad’.